Kennett, and Thomas Tanner. Wood had a sharp illness on 1 Nov. 1695; about the 11th he again fell ill; Charlett saw him on the 22nd, and told him he was dying. Wood manfully settled his affairs and prepared for death. He died on 29 Nov., aged almost sixty-three, and was buried in Merton College outer chapel, where Thomas Rowney, a personal friend, M.P. for Oxford city, placed a monument to his memory. The Bodleian has a pen drawing of Wood, æt. 45, reproduced in Wood's ‘Life,’ ed. Clark, vol. ii. Michael Burghers about 1691 took a sketch from the life, and engraved it for a headpiece to a privately printed preface to the ‘Athenæ,’ vol. ii., and published an engraved portrait from it after Wood's death. Both are reproduced in Gutch's edition of Wood's ‘Annals;’ but Burghers admitted that Wood ‘was displeased because it was no more like him.’
Wood's printed books and manuscripts (of which a Latin catalogue was published by William Huddesford at Oxford in 1761) were mostly bequeathed by him to the Ashmolean, whence they passed in 1858 to the Bodleian. Many of the manuscript papers which he disposed of otherwise have also found their way thither. The printed books are shortly described in Wood's ‘Life and Times,’ ed. Clark, i. 6–21; and the manuscripts, ib. iv. 228–50.
Wood prided himself on having helped Henry Savage in his ‘Balliofergus,’ 1668; Thomas Blount, in his ‘Law Dictionary,’ 1670; Thomas Gore, in his ‘Catalogus … Authorum … de re Heraldica,’ 1674; and especially Sir William Dugdale in the ‘Monasticon’ and ‘Baronagium.’
The following is a list of Wood's works:
- ‘Historia et Antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis, duobus voluminibus comprehensæ: Oxonii, e Theatro Sheldoniano, mdclxxiv,’ fol. No name appears on the title-page, but the preface is signed ‘Antonius à Wood;’ the standard edition is ‘The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford … by Anthony à Wood … by John Gutch, Oxford, vol. i., mdccxci,’ 4to, vol. ii. mdccxcvi, 4to.
- ‘Athenæ Oxonienses, an exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in … Oxford from … 1500 to … 1690, to which are added the Fasti … for the same time. The first volume, extending to … 1640, London, printed for Tho. Bennet … mdcxci,’ fol. Perhaps as a precaution against libel suits, no name was set to either this or the second volume, although the prospectus, issued in October 1690, had run ‘Proposals for printing Athenæ Oxonienses … written by … Anthony à Wood. …’ ‘The second volume compleating the whole Work’ appeared at London in 1692, fol. A second edition was published in 1721 by R. Knaplock and J. Tonson, printers, of London, in two volumes folio. It professes to have thousands of corrections and additions from Wood's proof-copy in the Ashmolean, and ‘above five hundred new lives from the author's original manuscript’ (now lost, but then in the hands of Thomas Tanner). Thomas Hearne vehemently, but erroneously, impugns the honesty of this edition. The additions from Wood's copy are often clumsily but always faithfully made, and there is no good ground for suspecting that the ‘new lives’ were tampered with, beyond the deletion of some ill-natured remarks. Dr. Philip Bliss [q. v.] took this as the basis of his edition, 1813–20; and he added much matter of literary interest and bibliographical value. He did not, however, avail himself of Wood's corrected copy or his numerous ‘Athenæ’ collections. He began a reissue of his edition in 1848. One volume (containing Wood's autobiography) was published; a second volume, beginning the text, is in the Bodleian, but shows few changes from the earlier issue. A new edition of the ‘Athenæ’ is much needed, corrected by Wood's own papers and citing Wood's authorities.
- ‘Modius Salium, a Collection of such Pieces of Humour as prevailed at Oxford in the time of Mr. Anthony à Wood, collected by himself …,’ Oxford, 1751, 12mo.
- ‘The Antient and Present State of the City of Oxford … by Anthony à Wood … by … Sir J. Peshall, London, mdcclxxiii,’ 4to; a new edition by the Rev. Andrew Clark entitled ‘Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford …’ (Oxford Hist. Soc.) was published in octavo, vol. i. 1889, vol. ii. 1890, vol. iii. 1899.
- ‘The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls … of Oxford, by Antony Wood … by John Gutch, Oxford, mdcclxxvi,’ 4to; an ‘Appendix containing Fasti Oxonienses … by Anthony Wood’ was edited by John Gutch, Oxford, 1790, 4to.
- Among the papers which Wood committed to the care of his executors were an autobiography and his diaries for the years 1657–95, full of interesting matter for contemporary Oxford history. The autobiography was published in 1730 by Thomas Hearne at p. 438 of his edition of ‘Thomæ Caii Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon.’ It was reprinted, with the addition of some diary notes, in 1772 by William Huddesford, and repeated in Dr. Bliss's editions of the ‘Athenæ.’ Subsequently, an accurate edition has recently
